1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a grommet and, more particularly, to a grommet externally mounted on a group of electric wires wired between a vehicle-body panel and a trunk lid of an automobile.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, in wiring a wire harness in an automobile by spanning the wire harness between a vehicle-body panel 1 and a trunk lid 2 that is opened and closed, as shown in FIG. 6 (A) and FIG. 6 (B), a grommet 3 is externally mounted on the wire harness for waterproofing and dust resistance. The present applicant has provided such a grommet 3, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-258129 (Related Art 1). The grommet 3 is provided with a corrugated tubular section 3a through which a wire harness is inserted and locking tubular sections 3b that are continuous from ends of the corrugated tubular section 3a. The locking tubular sections 3b are inserted into and locked to through-holes respectively provided in the vehicle-body panel 1 and the trunk lid 2.
The number of the electric wires to be inserted through the grommet 3 is different according to the model and grade of an automobile. When the number of the electric wires is large, the electric wires have high rigidity. Thus, as shown in FIG. 7 (A), the grommet 3 bent into a U shape does not widely expand to an outer peripheral side thereof. Meanwhile, when the number of the electric wires is small, the electric wires have low rigidity. Thus, as shown in FIG. 7 (B), the grommet 3 bent into a U shape widely expands to the outer peripheral side thereof. As described, when the grommet 3 widely expands to the outer peripheral side, the grommet 3 interferes with a peripheral part 4 and the vehicle-body panel itself that are disposed in a limited space between the vehicle-body panel 1 and the trunk lid 2. Consequently, the grommet 3 could be damaged, or noise could be generated due to vibration of the vehicle. In particular, when the peripheral part 4 is a hinge coupling the vehicle-body panel 2 to the trunk lid 2, the grommet 3 could be pinched by the hinge and then damaged easily.
In order to resolve the above problems, as shown in FIG. 8, the mounting location of the grommet 3 to the vehicle-body panel 1 is moved away from the peripheral part 4. Thereby, the grommet 3 is prevented from interfering with the peripheral part 4 even when the grommet 3 widely expands to the outer peripheral side. However, in the above configuration, the mounting location of the grommet 3 on the vehicle-body panel 1 is too close to the trunk lid 2 and causes end portions of the grommet 3 to interfere with each other at an inner peripheral side of the grommet 3. Consequently, the grommet 3 could be damaged.
Related Art 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-258129